×

Subscribe to our newsletter

Highlights From the Previous Week, Partnered Events and Haikus. View our Newsletter archive

Geology of Lived Objects: Mercury Bureau

Jan 24, 2016
Founded in 2014, Toronto-based Mercury Bureau develops lighting and accessory designs with close consideration for how objects impact our everyday. Born as the brainchild of geology-trained Shane Krepakevich, each design lends itself to a culture of  aesthetic and formal investigation. However adapted...
Scroll right to read more ›
Text by

Founded in 2014, Toronto-based Mercury Bureau develops lighting and accessory designs with close consideration for how objects impact our everyday. Born as the brainchild of geology-trained Shane Krepakevich, each design lends itself to a culture of  aesthetic and formal investigation. However adapted to customisation, products such as Trace Lamp, Keyhole Wall Hook or Pivot Table emanate refined functionalism. TLmag spoke to the Krepakevich about his trajectory and philosophy.

TLmag: What aspects of a background in geology transcends your creative approach?

Shane Krepakevich: Studying geology imprinted a strong sense of research onto everything I do. I carry forward an attitude and a methodology that allow me to approach my work with openness and focus. I pursue each project with persistence as along as it seems fruitful, while always trying to remain open to a shift in approach or production.

TLmag: How does your artistic experience inform your design practice? 

S.K.: My experience as an artist brings the value of studio practice into my design work. This complements the research focus I inherited from the study of geology – giving me the tools to realise my ideas while keeping a close watch on the potential that can come directly from actively working with materials, processes, and forms. Having spent years looking for alternative means for engaging the objects I created as an artist, it became clear that the field of design already contained many of the answers I was looking for. Design and its experience provides a much different person-to-object relationship. I love the familiarity, touch, complicity and duration of our connection to everyday objects. 

TLmag: You talk about how objects can make a difference in our lives. Please describe how the Keyhole Hook and Pivot Table achieve this ideal. 

S.K.: Much if not most of our lives are spent indoors, in rooms, surrounded by materials, finishes, and objects. Interiors drive and host our experiences. I develop my designs with this phenomenon in mind. I look to existing products and consider how my own can offer a point of difference – not as an overt display of difference – but as subtle inflections on the space of our daily lives. I hope to provide people with at least a small opportunity to shape their environment, to craft the character and functionality of their interiors.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Cut Pendant
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Cut Pendant
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Keyhole Wall Hooks
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Keyhole Wall Hooks
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Keyhole Wall Hooks
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Keyhole Wall Hooks
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Trace Lamp
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Trace Lamp
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Trace Lamp
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Trace Lamp
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Trace Lamp
MercuryBureau_PivotTable_lrg
Pivot Table
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Shane Krepakevich
Back

Articles you also might like

Roca Gallery, an online platform founded by Roca in 2019, which features articles and in-depth stories that dive deep into topics around architecture, design, and urbanism, launches a new topic this month on the theme of “Taking Care”.

After its inaugural exhibitions in June, mudac, the Museum for Contemporary Design and Applied Arts, will present its first major exhibition, A chair and you, which will take over the entirety of the museum’s new exhibition halls in the heart of Lausanne’s new arts district, plateforme 10.

On April 5th, PAD Paris opens its doors for 5 days of modern and contemporary decorative arts, design, and craft. TLmag previews some of highlights to expect at this esteemed fair.